Guruji said, “Bada seth bana phirta hai, aur bete ke janamdin pe itni si burfi laya hai”.
A narration by Bhanu Jain
It was my 9th birthday and to celebrate it we were going to Gurgaon to Guruji. It was a regular practice to take His blessings and to distribute sweets on any person’s birthday in the family. We stopped at a sweet shop in Gurgaon and my father bought 1 kg. Milk cake burfi which in those times one of the most popular sweets. Milk cake burfi is quite big in size and in 1 kg. Just about 18 to 20 pieces were there.
When we reached Sthaan, Guruji was sitting in the store room which is outside His room with about 20 – 22 people. As soon as we reached even before taking His blessings a thought struck my father ( I was too young to realize it at that moment) that 20 – 22 people are already sitting and we are three. That makes about 25 and the burfis are not more than 18 or 20 in number. Some more people (about 4 – 5) also came in by then. Guruji used to lovingly call my father ‘Dhanna Seth’. Now, he thought that Guruji is going to say “Bada seth bana phirta hai, aur bete ke janamdin pe itni si burfi laya hai” (I call you a ‘Seth’ and you have brought so less sweets on your son’s birthday). This was just a thought and nothing else. Guruji very lovingly blessed me and took the box of sweets from my father’s hand. But by then, he had already sensed what was going on in the mind of my father. Probably Guruji had chosen that day and moment to remove any iota of doubt left in my father’s mind about the absolute authority he had over things, time and events.
Now something amazing happened. The people were around 25 – 30, my father had counted them. The ‘burfis’ were not more than 18 or 20, even that he had checked. When Guruji started distributing the ‘Milk cake burfis’, He did not break any piece into two and gave a full piece to each and everyone present. After distributing to all who were present in the room, He called for everyone who were at Sthaan saying that it is Bhanu’s b’day and everyone should come and eat the sweets. At his call about 10 – 15 people who were doing Seva or present at other places at Sthaan came and took the ‘burfi’ from Him. In all, about 40 or more people had already taken the sweet from Him. After distributing to everyone, He gave the box back to my father (which still had 2 – 3 pieces remaining in it) and said, “Le beta, jyoti aaj aayi nahin hai, uske liye le jaa”. (Son, take these for jyoti who couldn’t come today). Jyoti is the name of my sister who could not come with us that day as she had to finish some school work. Guruji always remembered everybody.
What He did and how it happened is a thought too small compared to the greatness of Guruji, Who used to do all these things without anyone even noticing. This is what we know now, but what ever happened that day struck a chord somewhere in my father’s heart. A thought came to His mind based on our family beliefs of that time. In the religion (jain) that we used to follow before coming to Guruji, there is a concept of “Keval gyan”, that is a stage where there is “Complete Knowledge”. If that state is attained, a person knows everything and can do anything. Since our knowledge in those early days was limited to previous teachings, my father thought (after seeing the distribution of less than 20 ‘burfis’ to more than 40 people) that maybe Guruji has attained “Kevel Gyan” and in that case, he can answer any question.
Since we were born and brought up in a family where the religion revolved around doing good ‘Karmas’ only and not in idol worship, my father was not fully convinced of surrendering himself to anyone. Though he had seen some super natural happenings after coming to Guruji but till that day some where in his heart, he used to feel unsure of what he is doing. As already stated above, probably Guruji had chosen that day and moment to remove those doubts from my father’s mind as he had already chosen him for some different work and didn’t want to waste any further time in grooming him for that. My father waited for everyone to leave and then asked the question that he thought could not be easily answered.
He asked Guruji, “Guruji, there are a lot of self proclaimed Gurus now a days and a lot of Guru Sthaans in the world. According to my education and knowledge, about 90% of these so-called Gurus are either fake or fraud. That leaves only about 10% which are neither fake and nor fraud but, about 99.9% Of them are not fully knowledgeable themselves. Since they themselves do not have the complete knowledge, how can they guide me?”.
He further asked, “Guruji, I have also heard ‘Guru bina gati nahi’, (-I cannot achieve my goals without a Guru). To achieve my goal of ‘Moksh’, I must surrender completely before my Guru, but if the Guru is fake or without the complete knowledge and I surrender to Him, then I would myself be misguided and then doomed.”
Guruji was patiently listening as my father continued his query, “Guruji, since only 0.01% People who call themselves a Guru are worthy of being one, it is essential that first I must test that person before accepting him as my Guru since I do not wish to surrender completely to a fake or un-knowledgeable one. And Guruji, if I am able to test Him, then I am already superior to Him so how can He be my Guru?”
In that short span of time, my father had completely spelt out his worldly knowledge about this sensitive subject. What Guruji replied, is of utmost importance to all of us to understand. Every word is magical and defines “The Guru – Shishya relationship” in a way that my father had never thought or imagined at that time. I was in any case too young to understand but those words were embedded in my heart as a child.
Guruji replied very simply and briefly with a very calm composure, “Kai janam lekar bhi, guru ko dhoonda nahin jaa sakta. Har janam mein, guru hi apne Shishyon ko dhoondhta hai.” (Even after taking many births, you cannot find your Guru. The Guru Himself searches for His Shishyas)
He continued, “Tu kya sochta hai, tune mujhe dhoondha hai ? Nahin. Maine hi tujhe dhoondha hai” (what do you think, you have searched for me and found me… No, when the time was right, I searched you and brought you here). My mother had a problem of migraine just before coming to Guruji which was cured by him on reaching to him. Probably he created the event and then brought all of us in his ‘Sharan’
Bhanu continues:–
Oh my God ! What a complete understanding of the subject. Amazing words. Amazing style. I salute that ‘problem’ which was the reason of us reaching at Maha Gurudev’s feet. After that, Guruji said some things which he hardly ever told anyone. He said, “Pichhle 1,000 saalon se main tere saath hoon” (I am with you since last 1,000 years.) Then, He told a 1,000 year old history of my father. His many ‘Janams’ during this period and how Guruji was tracking him during this entire period. He even told about a place where a photo of my father was hanging till date which was hung hundreds of years ago. That day was the turning point in my father’s life and in mine too.
O’ great Lord, what you do and how you do, is completely beyond our understanding. I pray to you Guruji, always keep us in your ‘Sharan’ and keep your ‘Kripa’ on us.
— Pranaam Guruji –.